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Previously we looked at how eye contact, or lack thereof, could tell us a lot about people and in some cases whether we thought they were being truthful or not. However, the same would apply to us as others make decisions concerning what they determine from what we are saying or doing. So, the eyes are not the only things that can be telling since all of one’s body actions can consciously or unconsciously reflect things about our own personalities. Then perhaps we should look at just how much we give away from the various movement of our bodies.

Women’s Council of Realtors, Hill Country had an amazing Economic Development event in February. Our area is growing by leaps and bounds! We invited Holly Covington, Marketing and Research Director for New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation, Josh Schneuker, Executive Director, Seguin Economic Development Corporation, and Kevin Burke, Economic Development & Downtown Administrator at City of San Marcos. They each spent around 20 minutes talking about the population growth of their communities and current, future, and proposed residential developments.

Gold Financial Services is a mortgage banker that has been an active part of the local real estate community for more than 20 years and is one of the largest FHA &VA residential mortgage lenders consistently offering comprehensive loan programs and superior customer services.

About every three years, we Texans get a true taste of winter. Temperatures fall below freezing; we bring out our sweater; closed toe shoes are necessary, and sometimes precipitation intermingles with our regular humidity causing a SNOW DAY! I love a good snow day. A free pass to not work, skip working out, and time to work on watching bad television. If only bad television was NOT interrupted by bad local news updates.

On January 10th your Women's Council membership packed the house at The Well as they started off the year focusing on themselves. As we all know, you can only be as good to others as you are to yourself. So, on Jan 10th we held a “Be Well at The Well” event. A panel of members shared tidbits on the dynamic changes they had made to overcome obstacles encountered in their lives and how they focused instead on improving their own health and well-being. Missy Stagers spoke on eating to live vs living to eat and about food provenance and farming. Cathy Heshmat defined wellness and focused on getting tested so you will know your numbers. Mandy Pilgrim shared her story about overcoming fear and leveraging your mindset to maximize your balance and drive. Finally, Melanie Harwood focused on how Pranayama Meditation and Yoga can help you and then closed our session with a relaxing breathing technique. This event brought in 35 first time attendees and was very well received.

Have you noticed that when people, i.e. individuals, groups and governmental agencies, decide they are going to “fix a problem” it frequently leads to outcomes that may be different from what was anticipated? This activity generally falls under the “Law of Unintended Consequences” for which there may, in addition to the intended outcome, be some other potential outcomes. There may be an additional benefit or windfall, there may be a negative or detrimental side effect, or the problem may just become worse. It is also possible, especially when governmental agencies are involved, that the problem they are trying to “fix” doesn’t currently exist.

Each year the leadership from the Texas Association of REALTORS® travels the state to meet with members and provide an update on what is happening at the state and national levels, particularly regarding housing trends and legislative issues. Formerly known as the Mega Region Meeting, the event has a new name this year - Texas REALTORS® 360! Once again, Regions 7 and 13 will partner for this event, with this year’s program scheduled for March 20-21 at the Hyatt Hill Country in San Antonio.

The San Antonio Board of REALTORS® hosted its 2018 Housing Forecast on January 4, 2018, at the La Cantera Resort and Spa to an audience of over 1,000 REALTOR® and Affiliate members. Participants at this annual event heard from a series of locally and nationally recognized speakers sharing their expertise on market conditions, industry trends and community conditions and how those factors will affect the 2018 real estate market.

So, we have survived another “holiday season” and may still be experiencing the letdown or blues that many suffer from all the activities in which most participated during the previous months. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a real condition that makes it hard to get back on track after all the hustle and bustle associated with family gatherings and celebrations at offices and friend’s homes, etc. SAD is a very appropriate acronym for the feelings that go along with this condition. But, now it is time to get moving as we are done with the first month and are into another year, hopefully, one that will be full of promise and prosperity!

No, this is not a mushy Valentine’s Day rant. Although, if one is ranting, how mushy can it be? This is a retail-cry-out to remember the goal of retail: Service your consumer! Several rants ago, I lamented my experience at a local mega coffee shop that ran out of coffee to serve to the customers. This was not any kind of coupon/promotional/first-come-first-serve special sale day. It was a regular Tuesday morning at 6:45 AM. Normal peoples’ coffee time. Other normal people were there with me wondering why we were in a coffee shop with no coffee.

As REALTORS® it is important for us to be able to help our clients find the right builder when they prefer to buy a new home or to have their dream home built from the ground up, and that means we have to first know about the builder and what they can do to help our particular clients. We must be sure that the builder has a solid building “track record,” have proven to be dependable, and come highly recommended by previous customers. Perry Homes can definitely fit that profile and readily welcomes REALTORS® as their partners.

We all know that January 1st was New Years Day and the beginning of a new year, but did you know it was also “National Hangover Day?” Surely it is easy to realize why that is so, as a few million of us party hearty on December 31st and may just suffer the “following day malady” that goes along with that joyous celebration. It is fortunate that for most of us the 1st is also a national holiday so we are able to suffer from home or at least institute a cure for the problem there.

On Q Financial, Inc. was founded in 2005 by John Bergman who had the vision of hiring the best people in the mortgage industry to provide home buyers with a simplified mortgage experience. Offering a portfolio of attractive loan products along with competitive pricing has allowed On Q financial to build upon that earlier vision every year since its inception and to experience consistent annual growth. Being a purchase focused lender, with more than 80 retail locations and more than 650 employees, On Q Financial is now licensed in nearly every state and has been recognized by Mortgage Executive Magazine as the #51 Mortgage company in the United States.

It is amazing to me, in this day and age, just how rude some people can be, and it makes me wonder if the parents of the younger and recent past generations have been teaching their children the expected common courtesies that are exchanged during interactions with others, or have the children just chosen to ignore what they were taught. Discourtesies, however, are not limited to children since some people of an age where they should know better, have also recently been observed exhibiting rudeness.

Where’s the meat? You deserve a break today. Just do it. Snap Crackle Pop. And (drum roll) the next new phrase, “Look at this . . .” No matter the subject; no matter the familiarity, no matter the gruesome details, everyone now has a photo to tag-line their story. In the good old days, a tagline explained the photo. Today, we get to listen to a long-winded story and then sit through the swipe of photos that prove the details. In 2018, my resolution is to figure out how to escape the "LOOK AT THIS" craze.

Kicking off 2018 will be SABOR’s Housing Forecast on January 4. This year’s program will feature the always entertaining economist, Dr. Mark Dotzour, and we will also welcome Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research at the National Association of REALTORS®. Other speakers include Robert Rivard, founder of the Rivard Report, and Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, President, and CEO of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.